Chapter 4 Doctor Crotone

Lycassus closed the door, and hung a wooden sign on the door that read "going out, no consultation".

"Hey, Nicostratus, are you going out?!" the owner of the butcher shop across the street shouted, brandishing his meat-picking knife.

Nick Stratus snorted, ignoring the butcher. He always believed that it was the butcher who was shouting and hawking on the opposite side every day that made the rich people reluctant to visit his clinic. The house he could afford wasn't in a better location than here, so all along, he had no good feelings for the rude neighbor.

"How long are you going to go out?!" The butcher shop owner was used to the doctor's attitude. Seeing that he didn't answer, he continued to ask loudly.

The well-behaved Lykasus saw the teacher's face gradually gloomy, and hurriedly said for him, "I will go out for about 20 days, Uncle Cus."

"It's been so long!" The butcher shop owner exclaimed, "We're sick, what should you do if you're not here?!"

Nick Stratus twitched a few times, and couldn't help but turn his head and shouted, "Then you just endure it and don't get sick until I come back!"

"It's not up to me to decide whether to get sick or not, it's all a prank by the gods!" the butcher shop owner complained.

Nick Stratus stopped talking to her and strode forward.

"Doctor Nick Stratus, where are you going after you've been out for so long?" another person asked.

This time, Nicostratus stopped because the person inquiring was a businessman from a bakery, a rare and important customer of his, who paid a lot of consultation fees every time he came to see a doctor.

"Go to Turii." He replied earnestly.

"Turii? You were invited to heal, right?" The businessman saw Lycasus carrying a medical box, and said proudly: "The medical skills of our Crotone are the same in the whole of Greater Greece. Famous! Dionia has a larger territory and can fight, and in other respects, it is far worse than Crotone, which has a long history!"

His words resonated with the owner of the butcher's shop: "You are so right! Those people in the north are actually refugees, and there is no culture and city-state tradition!"

The influence of Dionia in Greater Greece is growing year by year, which makes the ordinary people of the once powerful state of Crotone feel lost. Out of the psychology of sour grapes, they always like to take some advantages of their own city-state. Compare to the Dionysian and then dig at the Dionysians for some psychological satisfaction.

Nick Stratus made a few perfunctory words and walked quickly out of his block.

"Ignorance." At this moment, he spit out a sentence softly.

The rise of Crotone medicine originated in Democydes a hundred years ago. The Crotone man aspired to be the best doctor in the Mediterranean when he was young. He traveled around the world, studied medicine, and after his studies he practiced medicine in Athens. Because of his good medicine, he earned a lot of money. Later, he went to the island of Samos to treat his tyrant. As a result, when Persia attacked Asia Minor and Samos was captured, he became a prisoner and was escorted to Susa. It happened that Darius, the king of kings, fell ill, and he was cured. He was released from prison and served the royal family, but he was restricted from returning to Greece.

After living in Persia for five or six years, he missed his hometown thousands of miles away.

One day, Atossa, the queen of Darius, the daughter of Cyrus, the founding monarch of Persia, suffered from a lump on her body that no one could heal. Atossa heard that Demokaides was highly skilled in medicine, and with the idea of ​​trying it out, let the Greek go to the inner court for treatment, and promised that as long as the disease was cured, the queen would grant him any request.

As a result, Democydes restored Queen Atossa to health. At his request, Atossa suggested to Darius that Democydes traveled around Greece with Persian spies to collect information for the purpose of Prepare for the future conquest of Greece.

Darius agreed, and Democydes vowed to return to Sousa.

As a result, he left Persia, and he found an opportunity to escape the surveillance of the Persians and escaped back to Crotone.

Although Persia was powerful at that time,

There has not been a war with the Greek mainland, let alone the western Mediterranean Sea, which is thousands of miles away.

Demokai Des opened a clinic in his hometown, recruited many apprentices, and imparted his many years of medical experience and the medical skills of Greece and Persia. Dr. Rotone has been at the fore in Greater Greece for over a hundred years.

But in recent years, Dionia's medical skills have improved as rapidly as its alliance strength. It is said that some incurable diseases that Dr. Crotone cannot solve, Dionia's doctor can miraculously cure or After getting better, some terminally ill Greeks who were not in the Dionysian Union tried to see a doctor in the Dionysian hospital, and most of them returned to their homes happily. In this way, the reputation of "Dr. Dionysus is highly skilled and taught by Hades" gradually spread...

As far as Nick Stratus knows, there are many wealthy citizens in Crotone who have often visited the center of Dionysian Tulii for medical treatment in recent years. The organization of the Medical Forum, held every spring, invites doctors from the Dionysian Alliance and its allies to gather in Turii to discuss new medical discoveries and exchange medical skills. Last year was the first session, and the conservative Nicostratus did not go, but in chatting with the returning colleagues, the few words they spit out about the novel medical theories and methods learned from Dionia made the Nicostratus, after his astonishment, led him to ponder.

Therefore, at the beginning of this year, when the Turiyi Hospital issued an invitation to various allies, he could not wait to prepare to leave.

Originally, it only took half a day to reach Turii by boat from the port and the wind was favorable, but the sad Nick Stratus suffered from seasickness and could only travel by land.

When they came to the north gate, another doctor, Stasipus, was already waiting there. The three of them left Crotone City and walked north on the soft dirt road.

The three came to the Neto River pontoon.

During the second war in Crotone, the pontoon was burned to prevent the Dionians from breaking into the city of Crotone. When it was rebuilt, for some reason, the bridge deck was not only narrow, but also less stable than before.

Stacypus couldn't help but spit on the way across the bridge: "The Turi Ikrati River is a real wooden bridge, not only wide and flat, but also boats can pass under the bridge. Compared with theirs, our pontoon bridge is more It looks like it was built by the natives!"

Nick Stratus did not speak. He remembered that Crotone held a citizens' meeting last year to discuss whether to invite the Dionians to help them build a wooden bridge over the Neto River. The majority of the people in Rotone objected, which prevented this bill from being passed. Nick Stratus himself was one of them. His idea was the same as that of the majority. Facilities such as roads and bridges can be used. The money should be used to repair public facilities such as theaters, arenas, and temples, and even give citizens extra benefits during special celebrations.

Thanks to the blessing of the gods, the past few years have seen good weather in Greece, and the crops have been harvested continuously. It also coincides with the frequent wars in the surrounding area in the past two years, and the price of grain has risen. . So spring came early this year, and the citizens who were full of energy brought their own slaves to plant wheat seedlings in the farmland early.

Walking on the Croton Plain, at a glance, it is full of green wheat fields, endless. The slaves worked hard in the fields.

In spring there is more rain and the roads become muddy. In order to prevent falls, Nick Stratus and his party walked slowly, and they only walked out of Crotone's territory in the afternoon.

When they trudged through the slippery mud with one foot deep and one shallow foot, and their feet began to swell, a flat and solid wide road was unfolding in front of them, and everyone breathed a sigh of relief.

"Mr. Stasipus." Lycasus, who had not traveled far since he was a child, shouted excitedly: "This is the Cremisa that Dionia built - Asprostu. Mu Avenue?!"

"That's right." Stacypus glanced at Nick Stratus. "Old friend, what do you think of this road?"

Nick Stratus snorted, did not speak, walked straight forward, came to a vacant stone pier among some resting pedestrians outside the sidewalk, and sat down on a vacant stone pier. , I feel like my waist is about to break.

Lycassus was young and energetic. When he saw cars coming and going on the avenue, it was very lively. He even crossed the drainage ditch. He scolded, embarrassedly retreated to the sidewalk.

Nick Stratus said something to him before quieting down. But after a while, he pulled Stacypus again and asked, "What is that car for?"

Looking in the direction of his fingers, a double horse-drawn cart was heading north at a relatively fast speed. On both sides of the tarpaulin were painted Dionia's logo "Double Fork and Three-Headed Dog". Vehicles on the avenue deliberately give way to both sides.

"That's the mail train."

"Mail train?"

"The Dionysians are called that. They are responsible for delivering letters and packages to the people between the two places. It is said that Dionia has a department dedicated to this matter," Stacypus said.

"This method is quite good, and it is convenient for the people of the city-state." Nick Stratus interjected.

"It would be great that we also have a mail car in Crotone! At least to deliver medicine to patients, we don't have to run back and forth, wasting time." Lycasus said with some envy.

"Young man, it costs money." Stacypus sighed.